


Human Food

by 1010nabulation



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou
Genre: Gen, Heartwarming, Hijinks & Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-16
Updated: 2012-03-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 00:38:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1010nabulation/pseuds/1010nabulation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tanuma and Taki find that not all dealings with youkai involve heartache.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Food

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ettoby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ettoby/gifts).



“Aren't you hungry today?” Natsume asked, crouching down before the little old shrine. A soft mew came from inside its darkened frame. The tiny stray cat _was_ hungry, Natsume knew. It'd been as skinny yesterday as the first day he'd seen it here, on his roundabout way to school. Today could be no different. 

Natsume sighed, smiling softly. He'd gotten the little animal accustomed to eating out of his hand. If it wouldn't come to him, he'd just have to go to it.

“You have to be quick, all right, or I'll be late for school,” he told the little ball of orange fur as he carefully made his way past the creaking wooden door of the shrine. Natsume pulled the door shut behind him, trying to show the cat it was safe to come out of the corner now. It crept timidly toward him as he held the usual small dish of fish out to it, took a few hesitant little bites, and began to purr. Natsume smiled. “That's it.”

It was a good start to his day, both their days really, sharing a companionable silence in the dim shrine. The sun shone brightly outside, birds singing a joyful morning welcome.

At least, it had been a good start to his day, until the door of the shrine refused to budge open. The old wood creaked and strained under Natsume's efforts, but hardly moved an inch. 

“Did you hear that?” The cycloptic chuukyuu paused on the forest path, turning to his companion. “The shrine is rattling!” 

The ox-like chuukyuu nodded, eyes wide. “It's rattling and shaking!”

“Help! Sensei! ...Anyone!” Natsume knew it was pointless to shout, really, but he had to at least try. Nyanko-sensei had disappeared after breakfast as usual; no telling where he was now. And it wasn't as though the path he took was oft-used by anyone other than Natsume himself. It was part of the charm of the route, that it afforded a peaceful atmosphere each morning in which he could gather his thoughts before he got to school.

“Natsume-sama?” The cycloptic chuukyuu's eye widened. 

“Natsume-sama, Natsume-sama!” The ox-like chuukyuu pulled at his own sleeves, agitated.

Cautiously, the two youkai approached the shrine. The rattling had stopped, the cries for help that sounded just like Natsume had too.

The cyclops pressed his ear to the door, his companion following suit and doing the same right beside him. “Natsume-sama, is that you?”

Inside the shrine, Natsume startled. Someone had heard him! “Chuukyuu? It's me! Can you help me get this door open, please?”

“Natsume-sama!” the ox-like chuukyuu said mournfully.

“Don't worry, Natsume-sama, we'll help you!” the cyclops assured him. He put his hands to the door and pulled, straining with the effort as the ox-like chuukyuu cheered him on. Natsume tried to help from the other side, to no avail. The kitten huddled into the furthest dark corner of the shrine, alarmed by all the commotion.

It was no use. The door was stuck firmly shut. After nearly half an hour of trying, Natsume slumped against the door inside the shrine, panting for breath. “It's okay, you can stop now. Thank you for trying. Will you find someone else to help me, chuukyuu? Maybe--”

The cycloptic chuukyuu broke in, excitedly. “We'll help, Natsume-sama!” He turned to his companion. “Natsume-sama is sealed in the shrine. We should bring him food so he doesn't starve!”

“Bring food, bring food!” the ox-like chuukyuu echoed, nodding happily at the idea. “Human food!”

“No... that's not what I meant.” Natsume said. He peered through the tiniest crack in the door, watching helplessly as the two youkai scampered off to 'help'. Natsume sighed. It was going to be a long day.

 

The entire school day went by with no sign of Natsume and Tanuma was getting worried. He'd asked Nishimura and Kitamoto if they'd heard anything, but they hadn't. Neither had Sasada. Taki was the last person he asked, only because he'd only just managed to cross her path in the halls as the last bell rang for the day.

“What if it's a youkai?” Taki ventured as he asked her, her brows drawing in concern.

Tanuma had thought about that. If it was a youkai, there generally wasn't a lot that either he or Taki could do. That didn't mean they'd give up on helping Natsume, though. “It might be. I've been catching glimpses of shadows all day,” Tanuma said, pointing out the school building's windows. “Out there.”

Taki peered out the window at the school's lawn and gasped. “Tanuma! Look!”

It was Tanuma's turn to gasp as he saw it too. Pebbles lined up to spell 'Help' and 'Natsume-sama' on the grass. That hadn't been there earlier.

Taki started to rush for the stairs, eager to get to the message right away.

“Wait!” Tanuma stopped her, taking her hand.

“What?” She looked at Tanuma searchingly, knowing he wouldn't stop her for no reason, but still eager to find Natsume as quickly as possible. And if he needed help...

“Those shadows, they're still there. We should be careful.” Taki nodded, looking more apprehensive, and they made their way more slowly to the pebble-message.

 

The cycloptic chuukyuu dusted himself off as he placed the last pebble in his note to the humans of the place Natsume-sama visited almost every day. This was their last hope, none of the youkai they had consulted about human food knew what to get for Natsume-sama. Surely a human would know, though! 

“They're here, they're here!” the ox-like chuukyuu cried as two of Natsume's human friends approached.

The chuukyuu jumped up and down as Tanuma and Taki got closer, pointing to their pebble-sign and babbling at them to help.

Tanuma scratched his head, keeping a wary eye on the shadows he could vaguely see bouncing around by the message written on the grass. “There's more now,” he said, reading the pebbles. “Help Natsume-sama... get food.”

“What does that mean?” Taki asked, her hands on her hips as she leaned in to look at the message.

Suddenly the shadows stopped moving. They were crouched on the ground now, it looked like, at Tanuma and Taki's feet. Tanuma turned to Taki. “I think the shadows could tell us.” He looked down, then back up at Taki. “Could you make a circle? I think they want to help.” 

Taki pursed her lips, considering. She didn't much like the idea of using the circles anymore. Not after it almost got her, and Natsume, killed. But if it could help them find Natsume... she could do it. She should do it; he'd helped her out even though it put him in danger. Taki nodded. “Okay.”

It wasn't easy to make a circle on the grass, so she moved a few feet away to a patch of dirt, swallowing as she carefully drew the circle from memory. Though she preferred to follow the diagram, she'd traced the circle so many times, practicing, that if she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could see the pattern.

She finished and looked to Tanuma apprehensively. He nodded, giving her a reassuring smile.

“If you could come and stand over here, please?” Taki requested of the shadows. They immediately complied.

Both chuukyuu began talking excitedly at once, tripping over each other to be heard in the little circle. “Natsume-samaaa!--Please help!--starving!--trapped!--a cat, a cat!--need to feed him!--sealed in a shrine!--human food!--...Natsume-samaaa!”

Tanuma and Taki gaped at the strange, frantic youkai in the circle. 

Finally, their story told, if garbled, the two chuukyuu stopped talking and gasped for breath, kneeling before the humans. “Help, humans! Help Natsume-sama!”

When both Tanuma and Taki expressed their agreement, that of course they would help Natsume, the chuukyuu began another litany, this one of thanks. 

Dire as the situation was it made Taki burst into laughter. Strange as they looked, they were just so earnest it was cute!

Clearly, it was up to Tanuma to get things under control. “So, you know where Natsume is?” he asked the youkai. 

They nodded enthusiastically. 

“And we need to bring food?”

Again, they nodded, this time the ox-like chuukyuu chiming in, “Human food!”

That was all Tanuma needed to know. He turned to Taki and spoke with her, the youkai looking on. “An offering, maybe, to a sealed youkai?”

“If we bring the food to Natsume, maybe it will let him go!” Taki said. She'd heard the youkai mention something about being trapped and about a sealed shrine. 

It was scary, thinking they were about to confront some powerful youkai, but if it was for Natsume they would do it.

 

Within an hour, Tanuma and Taki had gathered a big basket of 'human food'--onigiri, takoyaki, bento that Taki's mother had pre-made for her lunches for the rest of the week, whatever they could fit. Tanuma could still vaguely make out the shadowy shapes of the chuukyuu as they followed them, and now that they were ready to help Natsume, he lead the way as he followed them, Taki at his heels.

It didn't take long for them to reach the dilapidated old shrine. Breathing heavily, Tanuma steeled his will and approached the shrine, setting the basket of food down in front of him. Taki stood beside him, catching her breath and staring at the shrine.

“We've come with an offering!” Tanuma said loudly, addressing whatever youkai had Natsume hostage inside the shrine. He could see the shadows of the chuukyuu dancing about in front of the shrine, but no sign of whatever danger lurked within.

Taki took Tanuma's shaking hand. “Let Natsume go, please! We've done as the youkai said!”

The door of the shrine slid open a single inch. “Tanuma? Taki?”

“Natsume!” Taki ran toward the shrine, pulling Tanuma along with her.

“Can you help me get the door open?” Natsume asked, already pulling at it from the inside. There'd be time enough for explanations afterwards; he was just glad the chuukyuu had done more than just bring food—they'd brought his friends too.

Without voicing the questions in his head, Tanuma set to work prying the old wooden door open, thinking maybe the powerful youkai keeping Natsume trapped wasn't around, maybe he had to work fast to get him free before it came back. Taki added her strength to Tanuma's gripping the edge of the door and pulling, and with all their effort combined the door finally gave.

An opening just large enough to get through was made, and before Natsume could wriggle himself through, a tiny ball of orange flew out between his legs. A moment later, Natsume himself emerged, blinking in the bright sunlight.

“Thank you, Tanuma, Taki,” he said, taking a deep breath of fresh air. Turning to the side, he nodded and uttered more thanks, “Chuukyuu. Thank you for bringing my friends to help.”

Unseen by Tanuma or Taki, the chuukyuu cheered and waved fans for Natsume, relieved he was free of the shrine and able to enjoy the food the humans had brought.

“Was that... was that the youkai?” Taki asked, looking around for the orange streak she'd seen come out of the shrine. “The one that had you trapped? It didn't even touch the food we brought!”

Natsume laughed. “No. It was a stray kitten.” At the confused looks from both Taki and Tanuma, he explained what had happened that morning, what the chuukyuu thought they had to do, and what that huge basket of food was really for.

By the end, Tanuma was smiling and shaking his head and Taki was looking eagerly around for the errant fluffy kitten.

“Let's share it,” Tanuma said. “The food. As thanks to the youkai, for helping you... for helping us to help you.”

“It can be a picnic!” Taki said. “I'll draw a circle for the youkai to sit in, so we can all eat together.”

The crisis over, both Tanuma and Taki realized that not all interactions with youkai ended up in heartache. The chuukyuu had been friendly and helpful throughout, though they hadn't communicated the problem very well. It didn't much matter in the end. Natsume was safe. They were all together, on a beautiful spring day, sun shining through the trees and dappling their little sociable picnic. Taki was even grateful she'd chosen to use her circles... maybe even those weren't so bad after all, as long as she was careful. Her circle was now letting her and Tanuma talk to new friends.

At the smell of food, even the little stray was lured back. It ended up curled in Taki's lap, purring loudly, as she petted it and fed it scraps of food. “I just want to take you home with me!” she cooed to it. Looked like Natsume wouldn't have to worry about stopping at the shrine again.

Natsume laughed, taking a bite of takoyaki. He _was_ hungry, after all that. Starving, even, after a whole day trapped in the shrine. The chuukyuu's idea hadn't been such a bad one after all. After a bit of a rough start, it turned out to be a very good day.


End file.
